Small one car garage shop layout

[Ray Rodriguez]

I'd love some feedback on the workshop layout I'm planning for my smallish one-car garage. The north wall in this diagram is the garage door. The shop measures 20x11 and the ceiling for most of the shop is about 10-12 feet tall. I'm planning to build a Ron Paulk Compact Workbench to use as my primary bench and out feed table. Planned machinery include jointer, planer, drill press, bandsaw, dc and tablesaw. My primary use for this space is for making furniture. I've tried a few different layouts but this is the one that makes the most sense to me so far. Any thoughts on how to optimize it?

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[Jim Becker]

Keep everything mobile and be careful about "complimentary" heights for machinery and work surfaces. Pick out a spot in the shop for a "tool corral" so you can keep your space as open as possible.

While using your bench as outfeed might at first seem like a good idea, when you need to "cut that one part you forgot" while in the middle of assembly, it may prove to be problematic. You may be better served with a folding outfeed support and a bench that can be varied in height to suit the operation you are doing in the moment. Something to think about....

[Jim Dwight]

Your person is undersized. I am over 6 feet tall with an over 6 feet wingspan. You might be smaller but I doubt you have only a 3 foot wingspan.
More to the point, if you have the table saw then you are pretty much forced to work with it but it will be challenging in this space. My shop is 14x24 and I use a BT3100 and my DeWalt track saw. The Ryobi does smaller rips and the track saw cuts the big pieces. Even for furniture you need to be able to rip 8 feet or so sometimes and you can not with where you have the table saw. I would put it smack dab in the center. If you have not purchased the table saw yet, I would seriously consider a portable hanging off the workbench ala Paulk. If you use the track saw whenever possible, you can get by with a portable table saw and gain some needed space. I have a garage door on one end and a passage door on the other end and use them to let stock go outside sometimes. It doesn't appear you have that option which I think further pushes you towards a track saw so you can move the saw instead of the wood.
It is a compromise but I agree with your decision to use a combined outfeed table/worksurface/bench. I have a workmate I occasionally use and might make a small new fangled workbench but for now I use one 3x6 workbench with a Paulk style dual layer and 20mm dog holes in it. More work surfaces would be great to have but in a small shop you just have to make some compromises. I use my added width for a long cross cutting workbench with wood storage above and a bunch of drawers for tool storage below. The side support with flip stops is also Paulk style and is another work surface. But you don't have the width. Will cross cuts always be on the table saw? If so, that is another reason to think of a track saw. Long stuff won't work well on the table saw, especially in a small shop. Miter saw you move to the workbench is another idea but they are heavy to go up and down.

[Ray Rodriguez]

Keep everything mobile and be careful about "complimentary" heights for machinery and work surfaces. Pick out a spot in the shop for a "tool corral" so you can keep your space as open as possible.

While using your bench as outfeed might at first seem like a good idea, when you need to "cut that one part you forgot" while in the middle of assembly, it may prove to be problematic. You may be better served with a folding outfeed support and a bench that can be varied in height to suit the operation you are doing in the moment. Something to think about....

Great feedback. I was thinking of complimentary heights at least for the jointer/planer workflow I have set up. I'm planning on putting everything on mobile bases so that I can shift things around when I need to joint/plane lumber greater than 6 feet in length. If I do decide to go with the traditional cabinet saw I think you are right it probably makes more sense to use a foldable out feed table like the out feed roller table grizzly makes that folds down when not in use (https://www.grizzly.com/products/37-...ble-Saws/G1317). I'm sure I can make something comparable as well.

[Ray Rodriguez]

Your person is undersized. I am over 6 feet tall with an over 6 feet wingspan. You might be smaller but I doubt you have only a 3 foot wingspan.
More to the point, if you have the table saw then you are pretty much forced to work with it but it will be challenging in this space. My shop is 14x24 and I use a BT3100 and my DeWalt track saw. The Ryobi does smaller rips and the track saw cuts the big pieces. Even for furniture you need to be able to rip 8 feet or so sometimes and you can not with where you have the table saw. I would put it smack dab in the center. If you have not purchased the table saw yet, I would seriously consider a portable hanging off the workbench ala Paulk. If you use the track saw whenever possible, you can get by with a portable table saw and gain some needed space. I have a garage door on one end and a passage door on the other end and use them to let stock go outside sometimes. It doesn't appear you have that option which I think further pushes you towards a track saw so you can move the saw instead of the wood.
It is a compromise but I agree with your decision to use a combined outfeed table/worksurface/bench. I have a workmate I occasionally use and might make a small new fangled workbench but for now I use one 3x6 workbench with a Paulk style dual layer and 20mm dog holes in it. More work surfaces would be great to have but in a small shop you just have to make some compromises. I use my added width for a long cross cutting workbench with wood storage above and a bunch of drawers for tool storage below. The side support with flip stops is also Paulk style and is another work surface. But you don't have the width. Will cross cuts always be on the table saw? If so, that is another reason to think of a track saw. Long stuff won't work well on the table saw, especially in a small shop. Miter saw you move to the workbench is another idea but they are heavy to go up and down.

Aha so this is my biggest decision to make at this point as I own a tracksaw and a small contractor's table saw. A part of me is very interested in forgoing the traditional cabinet saw in favor of an MFT style setup using the tracksaw for the majority of cuts and leaving the contractor saw for ripping (could be done with bandsaw and resaw fence too) and for dado/rabbit work. Regardless of what bench I end up building I will be using the UJK Parf Guide System for setting my 20mm dog holes for precision cross cutting with parf dogs much like your setup. I suppose since I do not own the cabinet saw yet I can start out with the tracksaw/contractor saw setup and see how it goes. Exciting times!

[Ray Rodriguez]

Modified layout forgoing the cabinet saw for a full-sized Paulk workbench with a contractor saw mounted to the end. I also moved the drill press to the opposite wall from garage door to free up the jointer/planer row.

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[Ray Rodriguez]

I still think the compact bench size of 3x6 is probably a better size for the square footage I'm working with.

[Bill Dufour]

I would move the jointer and planer closer to the north wall. Is that a jig saw in the NW corner? Switch it around with the planer. Open the door for stock clearance when needed.
What machine is in the NE corner? maybe switch it out for the jointer?
Bill

[Ray Rodriguez]

I would move the jointer and planer closer to the north wall. Is that a jig saw in the NW corner? Switch it around with the planer. Open the door for stock clearance when needed.
What machine is in the NE corner? maybe switch it out for the jointer?
Bill

In the last layout I posted the equipment is as follows:

NE Corner: Bandsaw
West wall: Jointer, planer
SW Corner: Dust collection
South Wall: Drill Press
SE Corner: Finishing table
Center: Paulk Compact Workbench + Contractor saw

[Ray Rodriguez]

Another variation layed out for maximum in-feed & out-feed capacity for jointer and planer if I roll the drill press and bandsaw in towards garage doors. Having every piece of equipment easily movable is a must have I see.

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[Jim Becker]

That's a little better, Ray, and as long as things are mobile, you should be able to do productive work. Use a miter saw or a circular saw and saw horses in your driveway to cut down lumber to oversize component length to help minimize and length issues with material inside of the shop while processing it. (I do that at my miter station even with a larger shop because it's more efficient when milling at the jointer/planer anyway)

[Jamie Buxton]

When you're thinking about matching machine and bench heights, be aware that your garage floor is not horizontal, and probably not flat either. It is sloped down toward the door to shed water. It is not flat because the concrete was just kinda eyeballed -- that's sufficient for a garage.

[Jamie Buxton]

In a small shop, I'd go for a combo jointer-planer. You get both machines in the footprint of just the planer. And you generally get a wider jointer, which is very useful.

Also, with that ceiling height, I'd be thinking about going up. For instance, put storage high on the walls. Keep using the floor for machines, but put lumber and such up above seven feet.

Also, I'd consider losing the drill press. I have one, but I find it is only a convenience. I can do most of what it does with other tools. And it does eat floor space, which is extreeemely valuable in a one-car shop. Or maybe you should not buy a drill press immediately, but rather get started in this space, and see whether you want to make the trade-off.

[Robert Engel]

I started out in a 12x16 shop with a contractor saw, bandsaw, miter station and planer. Besides all the machines, really the biggest issue was storing parts to projects and projects during construction especially with something like cabinets. I did manage to build a 60" wide pie safe but I remember it was a challenge.

I checked and the SS jobsite saw is 31" wide (this includes extending the fence to maximum rip capacity of ~24"). I think you're diagram is fairly accurate but less than 24" to walk between saw and jointer/planer seems pretty tight to me. With this in mind, I suggest locating the TS against the wall (right sided against wall) and see if that works out better.

[Ray Rodriguez]

In a small shop, I'd go for a combo jointer-planer. You get both machines in the footprint of just the planer. And you generally get a wider jointer, which is very useful.

Also, with that ceiling height, I'd be thinking about going up. For instance, put storage high on the walls. Keep using the floor for machines, but put lumber and such up above seven feet.

Also, I'd consider losing the drill press. I have one, but I find it is only a convenience. I can do most of what it does with other tools. And it does eat floor space, which is extreeemely valuable in a one-car shop. Or maybe you should not buy a drill press immediately, but rather get started in this space, and see whether you want to make the trade-off.

Definitely agree in going vertical with storage space to maximize floor space for tools. As far as the planer/jointer combo that's something that I contemplated early on and as you say would be nice to have a nice wide jointer for wide panels without having to glue them up but ultimately I felt I was going to compromise on the quality of both machines and was hesitant to have to constantly have to change between jointer and planer configurations. This is also a temporary space as I'm using my parents garage for this workshop for now until I finally move away from the city to a house at which point I would look to get a big two car garage or bigger for my long term shop down the road so I didn't want to have to sell the jointer/planer and buy the individual machines. At least that was my rationale earlier in the process. My jointer and planer are on backorder (possibly for months) so I still have time to change things up.

As far as the drill press I have had a completely different experience with the drill presses I've used in the past. I find them to be indispensable and hard to replicate what they do accurately. I guess you can get similar results with a drill guide? What I like about a drill press is that of all the tools it seems the easiest to make mobile and to stash away in a corner when not needed and it is pretty versatile if you start attaching sanding spindles to it. Maybe a compromise is to get a bench mounted drill press that I can put on a cabinet cart to serve as some storage in addition to a more robust drill press base?

Thanks so much for your feedback. Definitely have me thinking about alternatives now.